Train tickets for this year's Spring Festival travel period from January 23 to March 2 went on sale in Beijing on Sunday.

Passengers were able to book train tickets ten days in advance from 7 PM.

According to the Beijing Railway Station, long queues had developed in front of the ticket offices. Most of those waiting inline were migrant workers with heavy bags on their shoulders.

Tickets to Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and Jiangxi Province, where a large number of migrant workers in Beijing come from, sold like hot cakes, according to the railway station.

Many of these workers only get the chance to go home and see their families once a year, during the Spring Festival, the most important holiday for Chinese. But train tickets are difficult to come by, since millions of Chinese are in the same boat.

China's railways are expected to carry a record 178.6 million passengers during the 40 days, up from 156 million last year, according to China's Ministry of Railways.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)